DFT-PCM Study of the Bond Dissociation Energies of N-nitrosoindole Compounds in Acetonitrile

Abstract

Quantum chemical calculations are used to estimate the equilibrium N–NO bond dissociation energies (BDEs) in acetonitrile (MeCN) for seven N-nitrosoindole compounds. These compounds are studied by employing the hybrid density functional theory (B3LYP, B3P86 and B3PW91) methods together with 6-31G∗∗ basis sets. The obtained results are compared with the available experimental results. It is demonstrated that the B3PW91 method is the best of these methods to compute the bond dissociation energies of N-nitrosoindole compounds. The solvent effects on the BDEs of the N–NO bond are analyzed and it is shown that the N–NO BDEs in a vacuum, computed by the B3LYP method, are the closest to the computed values in MeCN and the average solvent effect is 4.0 kJ⋅mol−1. The substituent effects on the N–NO BDEs were further analyzed and it is found that the N–NO BDE increases with increments of the Hammett constants of substituent groups on the benzene ring for N-nitrosoindole compounds, except the compound with 5-NO2−C8H5N–NO. Finally, N-nitrosoindole compounds and the other NO-donors (N-nitroso compounds) are compared.